Henry Sigerist Research Articles

The Fielding H. Garrison Lecture. "Bedside manners in the Middle Ages".

“Bedside Manners in the Middle Ages” Michael R. McVaugh (bio) The title of this paper is a deliberate echo of another one, the title of an article published just fifty years ago by Henry Sigerist in the Quarterly Bulletin of the Northwestern University Medical School. There Sigerist translated and discussed a short Latin text, attributed to the late-thirteenth-century physician Arnald of Villanova, that set out some of the ways in which physicians needed to behave toward their patients. Sigerist saw no real reason to doubt this attribution, although I will try to explain why it seems to me more likely to be a picture of the medical world as it was in the twelfth century, and even earlier, than of the late thirteenth. What clearly intrigued him about the treatise was its opening section, where the author explained to his readers certain precautions they should take when examining urine specimens brought to them for diagnosis—it was accepted that a patient’s condition could be determined by studying the color, sediment, and so forth of his urine. 1 These precautions will introduce [End Page 201] us to the question of the interaction between healers and patients in the Middle Ages, and of how this changed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The description may seem to confirm all our worst preconceptions about medieval medicine—most people are convinced that it must have been ludicrous, bordering closely on farce—but we need to have a sense of the healer-patient encounter that it reveals. In the fifty years since Sigerist called attention to this text we have considerably expanded our understanding of the social and institutional setting of medieval medical and surgical practice, and that understanding should help to give the text some historical perspective. Actually, Sigerist’s title is quite misleading, at least as regards the part of the text that most interested him, because these precautions do not show the physician studying the urine at the bedside; he only encounters the patient by proxy. The author takes it for granted that the physician is being brought the urine by an intermediary, a messenger from the patient. You need to determine at the beginning, the text explains, whether the urine is human, or of another animal, or another fluid altogether—stewed thistles, perhaps; stare hard at the person who brings it to you, and if she blushes furiously, accuse her immediately of trying to trick you. If you think that she may be trying to fob you off with white wine, pour out a little of it in such a way that some gets on your finger; then stop and pretend to blow your nose with the same hand, sniffing the finger as you do so, and if you smell wine, tell her you know that she’s trying to mislead you. If it really is urine that you have been given, and you can’t learn anything from it about the patient, says our text, say that he has an obstruction in the liver. [The messenger] may say: “No, sir, on the contrary he has pains in the head, or in the legs or in other organs.” You must say that this comes from the liver or from the stomach; and particularly use the word, obstruction, because they do not understand what it means, and it helps greatly that a term is not understood by the people. 2 And so on: the author offers many such nuggets of advice, all very much of a piece, and all immediately suggesting to a modern reader that medieval medical practice was no better than an elaborate charade without any intellectual content at all. Yet on the contrary, this physician-patient exchange over a urine-flask has something serious to tell us about medical relationships in the Middle Ages. If there is any one stock image of the medieval physician in the public mind today, it is one showing him gazing deeply into a urine-flask, and the same thing was true in the Middle Ages: medieval manuscripts show [End Page 202] that scene over and over again. And whereas for us the scene is good for a condescending giggle or...

Overview: The next step

If we are going to reform our healthcare system, we will have to start by providing access to basic care for everyone. This can be done through embracing a strategy that is built around integrated healthcare delivery systems. Payment should be via a universal tax for the basic plan, and there should be ways in which to pursue options beyond the basic plan, to be paid for by individuals. What is provided by way of care will need to be evaluated through a central technology assessment institute. The system will have to slow the rate of growth of spending in an intelligent way, not using price controls, caps, or repressive methodologies. The trick will be to still preserve a certain amount of freedom and flexibility, and include the capacity for change. There will have to be a significant reorientation of what has been our traditional approach to malpractice. Through the course of this symposium there has not been a great deal to be positive about. There are many physicians today who are well described by the English poet A. E. Housman's line, "A stranger and afraid in a world I never made." Change is inevitable; it is here and more is coming. The great medical historian Henry Sigerist noted that: "The physician's position in society, the task assigned to him, and the rules of conduct imposed on him changed in every period. They were determined primarily by the social and economic structure of society and by the technical and scientific means available to medicine at the time."(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A Vital Rationalist: Selected Writings From Georges Canguilhem

Georges Canguilhem, born in 1904, is still not as well known outside France as his most illustrious student, Michel Foucault, yet he is without doubt one of France's two most important philosophers of science (the other is Gaston Bachelard, his teacher). His contributions, in particular, to the history and theory of medicine and biology are equalled only, perhaps, by those of Henry Sigerist. This book is a carefully edited selection of texts, mostly drawn from<i>The Normal and the Pathological</i>(1950, 1966),<i>La Connaissance de la Vie</i>(1952),<i>La Formation du Concept de Reflexe aux XVIIe et XVIIIe Siècles</i>(1955),<i>Études d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences</i>(1968), and<i>Ideology and Rationality in the History of the Life Sciences</i>(1977); but it also includes a number of other writings, important journal studies translated here for the first time. Part 1 of the book takes up questions of methodology relevant to

The Guru and the godfather: Henry Sigerist, Hugh MacLean, and the politics of health care reform in 1940s Canada.

In September 1944, Henry E. Sigerist (1891-1957), historian of medicine from Johns Hopkins University, conducted a survey of health services in Saskatchewan for Premier T. C. Douglas and his newly elected CCF government. His brief report became the basis for legislation that enacted Canada's first free hospitalization plan. The recommendations seem to have been prompted by Dr. Hugh MacLean (1871-1958), a relatively unknown surgeon who practised in Saskatchewan for over 30 years. MacLean had observed how the economic Depression resulted in inadequate medical care and he became an ardent supporter of “socialized medicine.” Based on interviews with those who witnessed the events and on the personal papers of Sigerist and MacLean, this article explores the contributions of these two physicians to the Canadian health care system.

Book Reviews

Journal Article Book Reviews Get access WILLIAM BUDD. On the Causes of Fevers (1839). Ed. Dale C. Smith. The Henry Sigerist Supplements to the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, No.9. Baltimore, Marryland, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984. xi, pp., illus.$9.95 paperback. WILLIAM COLEMAN, PH.D. WILLIAM COLEMAN, PH.D. Department of History of Science, University of WisconsinMadison, Wisconsin 53706 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Volume 40, Issue 4, October 1985, Pages 499–501, https://doi.org/10.1093/jhmas/40.4.499 Published: 01 October 1985

The Complex Tasks of the Second Epidemiologic Revolution: The Joseph W. Mountin Lecture

aegis of the Bureau of State Services of the Public Health " Service. Dr. Joseph W. Mountin, chief of the Bureau, kcc A succeeded in having MCWA redesignated as the Communicable Disease Center in 1946. That same year I joined the staff of the Subcommittee on Medical Care of the American Public Health Association, which was chaired by Dr. Mountin, and I was privileged to work with him for the next five years. I am deeply honored by the invitation to present the third annual Joseph W. Mountin Lecture of the Centers for Disease Control. Joseph W. Mountin was the foremost public health worker in the United States in the second quarter of this century, just as Hermann Biggs was outstanding in the first quarter. Both were public servants, actively engaged in the administration of health services, who fused theory and practice to create new programs and new horizons of public health. There were a number of characteristics ofJoseph Mountin that I want to emphasize, not only to pay homage to his memory, but also to share them with you who are inheritors of the traditions of the Public Health Service. I confess to a belief in heroes, in models for public health action, and my personal list includes Hermann Biggs, Charles Chapin, Martha Eliot, Joseph Goldberger, Joseph Mountin, Henry Sigerist, and C.-E. A. Winslow. Of these, the only one I ever worked for was Joseph Mountin, and I came to know something of his way of thinking and his style of work. One of the striking characteristics ofJoe Mountin was his dedication. He was public health personified, concerned with improving the health of the

The History of American Medicine: A Field in Ferment

The term has long meant different things to different people. To medically trained scholars who founded field, medical involved primarily study of what physicians, usually famous ones, did and thought. Although some of these pioneers also explored cultural context of medical history, they jealously guarded their field against pretenders. For example, Erwin H. Ackerknecht, physician-historian, once noted condescendingly that of antebellum medical schools was not really medical because it did not deal with the of proper, that is, of diseases and their treatment. 1 In recent decades, however, as more and more nonphysicians have entered field, its scope has broadened to embrace health as well as sickness, patients as well as practitioners, behavior as well as belief, social relations as well as scientific change. In view of these developments, some historians have suggested substituting history of health care for history of medicine. 2 My own feeling is that either label will do, as long as medicine is taken in its broadest sense to include both preventive and curative activities. The designation has provoked similar dispute. The physician-historian Henry Sigerist, one of first full-time medical historians in United States, defined medical historian as a physician, trained in research methods of history, who takes an active part in life of his time and is in close touch with medical problems of his time.3 Because most historians of American have not been physicians, they have often hesitated to call themselves medical historians, and few of leading contributors to field scarcely think of themselves as such. Even late Richard H. Shryock, one of most respected medical historians of century, did not regard persons like himself, trained only in history, as professional medical historians. That title he reserved for those physicians who have been enabled, by establishment of special chairs and institutes, to give much or all of their time to historical studies. 4

Discovering the Human Body: How Pioneers of Medicine Solved the Mysteries of the Body's Structure and Function

Medical as the distinguished historian Henry Sigerist once wrote, teaches us where we come from, where we stand in medicine at the present time, and in what direction we are marching. Many have documented this fascinating journey, usually in a biographical form, or by historical sequence or social context. Dr Knight approaches it as a sleuth, discovering How pioneers of medicine solved the mysteries of the body's structure and function. His skills as a forensic pathologist and author (in addition to textbooks, he has published historical fiction and six detective novels) are well suited to the task. In less than 200 fluently written, lavishly illustrated, and amply indexed pages, he has given us a unique account of how the human body was discovered. The format is a system-oriented tour of medical history, showing how discoveries were made and after whom they were named. The histories of anatomy and physiology

The Double Face of Janus and Other Essays in the History of Medicine

Owsei Temkin, outstanding historian of medicine, is now celebrating his 75th birthday. In honor of the occasion, the Johns Hopkins Press has just republished some of his earlier papers, together with a new autobiographical essay that provides the title for the book. Early in his university career in Leipzig, Temkin was undecided between medicine and philosophy. He chose medicine. Then, under the influence of Henry Sigerist, he became especially concerned with the history of medicine. After receiving his medical degree, he did not practice but devoted himself to the history of medicine, a field in which he was able to synthesize his interests in philosophy, history, and medicine. In 1932 he emigrated to this country, joining Sigerist at the then new Institute for the History of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Medical School, where he has spent his entire professional career. The autobiographical essay tells of his own development but

Psychiatric education and the social function of the psychiatrist

THE GROWTH and development of psychiatry as a major branch of medicine in the past generation has already exercised a profound effect on medical education. Undergraduate teachers of the subject throughout the world have been understandably concerned to ensure that the medical curriculum enables them to provide adequate instruction for students, not only within the formal boundaries of their specialty but also in respect of the psychological aspects of medicine as a whole. On most fundamental issues they have reached a broad consensus of opinion despite differences of emphasis and outlook. However, in the sphere of postgraduate education, aimed as it is at the professional training of the psychiatrist, the situation is less clear-cut. It needs no more than a cursory glance at the current international scene to appreciate that the difference between the functions of psychit and, by the same token, his formal training might be expected to take account of his professional role. In general terms the link between teaching and function poses the old question : education for what? For medicine Henry Sigerist put the answer in historical perspective when he affirmed that “Medical education can never reach definite forms, but is obliged to adapt itself to ever-changing conditions. Every society required of its physician certain qualities, such as knowledge, skill, devotion to his patients, conscientiousness. But the position of the physician in society and the tasks assigned to him changed and were determined primarily by the social and economic structure of a given society and by the scientific and technical means available to medicine at the time” [l]. Of these two broad determinants-scientific technology on the one hand, socio-economic factors on the othtr-it is the latter which lend the most widely recognized stamp to professional functions in the economically deyeloped world of today. The sheer mechanics of an appendicectomy or a blood transfusion, for example, impose their own conditions on their practitioners and render the purpose of education and training self-evident. In so doing they illustrate the basis of Talcott Parsons’ view of modem medical practice as being “organized about the application of scientific knowledge” by technically competent, trained personnel [2]. An exclusive concern with the mechanistic aspects of medicine, however, can obscure an awareness of the truth embedded in Oliver Wendell Holmes’ comment of more than 100

A History of Medicine Henry Sigerist

A History of Medicine Henry Sigerist

Hysteria: The History of a Disease

Physicians, humanists, and behavioral scientists everywhere will welcome this distinguished contribution to the understanding of several phases of perplexing human behavior over a period of 4,000 years. As more materials, including works of art, become available for tracing the transformations of human aberrations over several millenia, it is increasingly possible to study those areas in terms of current insights. Professor Veith, a well-known medical historian, is superbly equipped for this monumental task. She was a pupil of Henry Sigerist and dedicates this book to him. In the best Sigerist tradition she describes the socioeconomic, political, medical, and philosophic backgrounds against which we can see the basic dynamics of a process or reaction type commonly called hysteria. Beginning with Egyptian medical papyri, of about 1900 BC, which describe morbid states attributed to the displacement of the uterus, Professor Veith traces the persistence of this concept into modern times. The underlying theme

Bibliography of the History of Medicine of the United States and Canada, 1939-1960

A rationally organized, well-indexed bibliography is a tool of utmost importance to any writer. This new publication fulfills these criteria and is invaluable to all who are actively interested in the history of medicine in the United States and Canada. The volume is a hardbound compilation of the yearly bibliographies published in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine since 1939. The instigator of the idea was Henry Sigerist, who edited the bibliography for 1939. From 1940 to the present, Dr. Miller has served in this capacity, except for the years 1948-1953, when Whitfield J. Bell, Jr., was the editor. From the inception of this work, volunteers have assisted the editors in their painstaking collection of data. The reviewer of a bibliography has a particular duty to refrain from picayune criticism. Pedantic searching of cobwebby corners would reveal inevitably that this compilation is not all-inclusive. While the editor will certainly

Essay Review: Henry Sigerist and Medicine in the Ancient World

Essay Review: Henry Sigerist and Medicine in the Ancient World

Social Science and Organized Health Services

The entry of social science into the health field is exciting news—at least to those who for a long time have been preaching that medicine and public health are really applied social sciences, because their goal is to apply scientific techniques to the welfare of people. Henry Sigerist, Michael Davis, C-E. A. Winslow, René Sand, Andrija Stampar, Jacques Parisot, James Mackintosh have been saying this in the languages of their respective countries since at least 1920; Alfred Grotjohn, Arthur Newsholme, Max Pettenkofer, Richard Cabot, and others before them. But these men were physicians or health administrators and not formally trained social scientists. Moreover, the sad truth is that most of their medical colleagues paid little attention to them.

Medical care programs in other countries; Henry Sigerist and international medicine.

Medical Care Programs in Other Countries Henry Sigerist and International Medicine Milton I. Roemer CopyRight https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.48.4.425 Published Online: August 29, 2011

A tribute to the influence of Henry Sigerist.

A tribute to the influence of Henry Sigerist.

A Translation of Galen’s Hygiene (De Sanitate Tuenda)

Journal Article A Translation of Galen’s Hygiene (De Sanitate Tuenda) Get access A Translation of Galen’s Hygiene (De Sanitate Tuenda). By Robert Montraville Green, M.D., Emeritus Professor of Anatomy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, with an introduction by Henry Sigerist, M.D. Hard cover; price, $5.75; pp. 211. Published by Charles C Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, 1951. Physical Therapy, Volume 32, Issue 7, July 1952, Pages 391–392, https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/32.7.391 Published: 01 July 1952

A Translation of Galen's Hygiene (de Sanitate Tuenda)

It is rather unusual to present a translation of one of the first medical books of classical antiquity to the medical public of today. The history of medicine is a fascinating field, and this book is a real "mine of information" of the medical knowledge at the times of the Roman Empire. "Hygiene' is an extensive term, and beliefs and habits of that time are described throughout the book. The introduction by Henry Sigerist and a short biography of Galen translated from Le Clerc's Histoire de la Médecine, give all necessary information for a good understanding of the book.

Miners' Diseases: The History of Miners' Diseases: A Medical and Social Interpretation . By George Rosen, M.D. With an introduction by Henry Sigerist, M.D. New York: Schuman's. 490 pages. $8.50.

Miners' Diseases: <i>The History of Miners' Diseases: A Medical and Social Interpretation</i> . By George Rosen, M.D. With an introduction by Henry Sigerist, M.D. New York: Schuman's. 490 pages. $8.50.